Around 1,000 events planned, up from last year
Comes as Trump administration nixes many climate efforts
Finance a focus as U.N. gathers ahead of COP30 talks
Sept 20 (Reuters) – When Climate Week kicks off on Sunday in New York City, it will mark the event’s biggest year yet – with organizers reporting a record number of companies participating and more events than ever to attend.
Almost no one had expected this response in a year that has seen the event’s host country – and the world’s wealthiest – set to a climate-denying agenda of boosting fossil fuels, rolling back pollution regulation and defunding U.S. science and climate action.
Organizers of Climate Week even wondered, “Would people show up?” said Climate Group Chief Executive Officer Helen Clarkson.
“Actually, there’s huge enthusiasm for it,” Clarkson said.
Held alongside the U.N. General Assembly since 2009, this year’s Climate Week showcases more than 1,000 events – including presentations, panel discussions and swanky cocktail parties – hosted by environmental nonprofits, companies and philanthropists hoping to generate deals and discussion around protecting the planet.
Last year’s Climate Week, by comparison, saw about 900 events.
The boost in engagement has come “precisely as an antidote to the current U.S. administration’s attitude toward climate change,” former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres told Reuters in an interview.
Ten years ago, Figueres helped to craft the 2015 Paris Treaty under which countries agreed to hold the global temperatures to within 2 degrees Celsius of the preindustrial average while aiming for a more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But while national governments were pushing the climate agenda 10 years ago, Figueres said, the situation has since drastically changed.
“The pull now is coming from stakeholders, from the real economy, from market forces that are pulling forward,” Figueres said.
The Swiss carbon capture firm Climeworks has booked itself for nearly four times the number of events this year compared with last year, after the company in February raised $162 million toward improving its technology and growing the company, Co-Chief Executive Christoph Gebald said.
